The Weekend Writers' Festival
(at Home)
September 11th - 13th 2026
- Is writing your passion - but you struggle to find the time?
- Are you working on a manuscript - but need support and inspiration?
Give yourself permission to make time for your creativity!
Join me and a group of outstanding authors and industry professionals across multiple genres for a three-day writing festival at home.
Summer is a wonderful time, but it can also be very distracting. Let's join together to focus and create. From the comfort of your home, receive daily presentations to enlighten and guide, writing prompts and tips and more...
Do as much or as little as suits your schedule.
Whether you are a seasoned author, a dabbler, or someone looking to start a new hobby using the written word, this retreat is for you! With a focus on making the space, physically, emotionally and mentally, to take the time to write, The Weekend Writers' Festival at Home will support you to find your writing voice.
Running from Friday evening through the second weekend of September, this retreat will help you find your writing groove.
Wherever you are at in your writing journey, join us and be inspired to continue through the winter season and into the future.
What you get:
- A series of six webinars across three days from highly skilled and respected authors, mentors, editors and industry professionals
- All webinars will be recorded, with replay links emailed to you, so you can watch at a time that suits you
- A daily schedule to support creativity, including presentations and group writing sprints
- Writing prompts
- Permission to take this time for yourself and your writing
Just £40.00
(Early Bird Price - increases to £60 from August 2nd)
1-2-1 Sessions
Looking for personal feedback on your work?
Across the weekend, Lelita Baldock will host 30-minute private sessions via Zoom to review individual pieces of work.
These sessions will focus on up to 5000 words of your manuscript, which must be submitted at least one week beforehand.
Cost: £150
(Includes full written feedback and private Zoom discussion session)
Limited slots available. Applications will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
Reviews
Friday Day One: 11th September
Webinar One
9:30am - 11:30am
September 11, 9:30am - 9:55am
Welcome to the retreat with Lelita Baldock
Grab a cup of tea or coffee and join the group for a welcome chat to set intentions and focus for the weekend of writing ahead.
Session One
September 11, 10am - 11am
Kelly Weekes - Creating a writing life that feels good and works for you
This inspiring and uplifting talk will explore how you can craft a writing life that fits into your wider life. We’ll look at habits that help, ways to protect your wellbeing, how to stay motivated, and how to avoid being distracted by other people's success. You'll come away with practical tools and mindset shifts to help you navigate the ups and downs of writing and publishing with greater confidence, resilience and positivity. Whether you're just starting out or have been writing for years, you'll leave feeling encouraged, empowered and excited about your writing.
Webinar Two
2pm-5pm
Writing Sprint
September 11, 2pm-2:45pm
Hosted by Lelita Baldock
Gather together and get some words down.
Session Two
September 11, 3pm-4pm
Alizée Musson - Screenwriting for Novelists
Alizée brings her years of industry experience to this presentation for novelists considering adapting their work to the screen or interested in becoming screenwriters: What should you consider when adapting prose for film or TV? What are the key similarities and differences between novel writing and screenwriting? What are common mistakes to avoid? This talk will cover all the basics.
Daily Round-Up
September 11, 4:15pm - 4:45pm
Hosted by Lelita Baldock
Grab a tea or a cool wine and gather together to reflect on the day, network and support each other.
Saturday Day Two:
12th September
Webinar Three
9:30am - 11:30am
September 12, 9:30am - 9:55am
Welcome to the retreat with Lelita Baldock
Grab a cup of tea or coffee and join the group to connect and set intentions for the day.
Session One
September 12, 10am - 11am
Joelle Tamraz - Write Memoir - Tell Your Story
You have a personal story to tell, but where do you start? Once you've started, how do you make it as compelling as possible?
Writer, editor, and coach, Joelle Tamraz will share her experience, framework, and insights from writing and publishing her award-winning memoir The Secret Practice: Eighteen Years on the Dark Side of Yoga as well as working with clients and reading avidly in the genre. This webinar will encourage you to find the heart of your story and jumpstart your memoir project.
Webinar Four
2pm-6pm
Session Two
September 11, 2pm -3pm
Lelita Baldock - The Mechanics of Writing: Structure, plot, character, pacing, dialogue
In this presentation, Lelita will break down the foundations of writing an evocative and engaging novel: taking the 'whole' of the novel and 'chunking' it into manageable pieces.
Bring a pen and paper and all your questions!
Writing Sprint
September 12, 3:15pm-3:45pm
Hosted by Lelita Baldock
Gather together and get some words down.
Session Three
September 12, 4pm - 5pm
Lindsay Marie Morris - Inherited Stories: Writing Fiction Rooted in Family History
In this presentation, Lindsay will guide you through her favorite research tools and techniques, offering tips for conducting effective, in-depth interviews, exploring archives, and analyzing public records available online and in public libraries. She will also share case studies from her experience writing The Last Letter from Sicily to demonstrate approaches to character development and artifact-influenced scene construction.
Daily Round-Up
September 12, 5:15pm - 5:45pm
Hosted by Lelita Baldock
Grab a tea or a cool wine and gather together to reflect on the day, network and support each other.
Sunday Day Three:
13th September
Webinar Five
9:30am - 11:30am
September 13, 9:30am - 9:55am
Welcome to the retreat with Lelita Baldock
Grab a cup of tea or coffee and join the group to connect and set intentions for the day.
Session One
September 13, 10am - 11am
Sarah Surgey - From Manuscript to Market: Creating Picture Books for Publishers and Selling Foreign Rights
Sarah brings a wealth of knowledge and varied experience in the Kid Lit space. Successful both in traditional publishing and self-publishing, Sarah's books have been translated into over 16 languages.
Webinar Six
2pm-5pm
Writing Sprint
September 13, 2pm-2:45pm
Hosted by Lelita Baldock
Gather together and get some words down.
Session Two
September 13, 3pm - 4pm
Ellen Alpsten - The Power of the Past: From Fact to Fiction
Ellen brings her years of experience in writing historical fiction for both traditional publishing contracts and self-published endeavours to guide all types of writing to shine.
Farewell and Thank You!
September 13, 4:15pm - 5pm
Hosted by Lelita Baldock
Grab a tea or a cool wine and gather together for a final time to reflect on the weekend and celebrate making time for our passions!
Lelita Baldock
Host / 1-2-1 sessions
Award-winning Historical Fiction author signed to Storm Publishing UK.
Lelita is the author of four novels set during World War II that delve into lesser-known regions and aspects of this pivotal time in history.
She is currently working on a trilogy, The Women War Reporters Series, that explores the Vietnam - US war and the rich and varied history of the nation of Vietnam.
A graduate of the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English and History, and of the University of South Australia with a Bachelor's of Education, Lelita has an extensive literary and educational background, having taught High-Level IB English teacher and mentored authors worldwide.
Lelita enjoys engaging with other readers and writers through social media, publishing a regular writing newsletter. When not writing, Lelita will most likely be found reading, with a cup of coffee or icy white wine in her hand.
Lindsay Marie Morris
Guest Presenter
Lindsay Marie Morris is a novelist and journalist based in Los Angeles. Inspired by her Sicilian-American roots, her debut novel, The Last Letter from Sicily (Storm Publishing, January 2025), traces a World War II–era story of love, resilience, and family secrets that spans continents and generations. Her second novel, Beneath the Sicilian Stars (Storm Publishing, July 2025), returns to this pivotal moment in history, following a family divided between California and Sicily whose lives are forever changed by the war, forcing them to confront questions of loyalty, belonging, and sacrifice.
A graduate of Marquette University, Morris began her career in magazine publishing, serving as an editor at publications including Folio: and Shape, before expanding into digital media, nonprofit communications, and freelance journalism.
Morris coaches writers, visits book clubs, and blogs about history, culture, and writing. The frequent speaker and educator presents lectures and workshops to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, libraries, bookstores, museums, and organizations.
Kelly Weekes
Guest Presenter
Kelly Weekes ACC is an International Coaching Federation Accredited Coach who works with writers and authors to help them navigate the challenges that appear throughout their publishing journey such as overwhelm, burnout, lack of confidence, self doubt and rejection.
She has extensive publishing experience and insight having held senior marketing roles at HarperCollins and Hodder&Stoughton but also understands the particular challenges that can come from working largely alone having worked for herself for nine years.
Ellen Alpsten
Guest Presenter
Ellen Alpsten was born and raised free-range in the Kenyan highlands, where her father worked as a Veterinary Surgeon, stemming the spread of Foot & Mouth disease to the Wildebeest. As her elder brothers attended boarding school, she dressed up her many pets (cats, dogs, chicken, geese, a stroppy Polo pony, a wounded Serval cat and at times a baby crocodile!) and forced them to listen to her stories.
Ellen moved from the Savanna to the Salons of Paris, pursuing her studies at the in 'Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris', where she graduated with a MSc in PPE. She worked first as a TV - Producer and then as a news-anchor for Bloomberg German TV London. While pushing gruesome night shifts on breakfast TV, she also started to write in earnest, every day, after work, a brief nap, and a run.
Today, Ellen works as an author and as a journalist for international publications such as the German 'FAZ', Vogue, Marie Claire, Standpoint, and CN Traveller. She also lectures Creative Writing at St. Mary’s University. Ellen lives in London with her husband, her three sons, and a moody fox red Labrador.
Her debut, the 'Tsarina' series was published in 2020 & 2021 and is translated in 23 languages.
Joelle Tamraz
Guest Presenter
Joelle Tamraz is an international author and writing coach. Her debut memoir, The Secret Practice: Eighteen Years on the Dark Side of Yoga, published in 2023, won multiple awards. She interviews authors on her Elevating Voices YouTube channel and co-hosts the Empowered Women Memoir Book Club.
She is presently at work on a second memoir about childhood trauma and growing up too fast across continents and cultures.
After earning an honours BA degree from Harvard and an MBA from INSEAD, she held senior roles in the corporate sector for over two decades and owned and managed a yoga studio in Paris for ten years.
In her free time, Joelle enjoys travelling, keeping fit, and walking with her husband and two dogs.
Sarah Surgey
Guest Presenter
Sarah Surgey is a children's author of 10 traditionally published book plus a self-publisher book that she sold into 16 languages.
She originally comes from a freelance feature writer on Nordic Culture and is the author of a crime fiction Nordic Noir.
Sarah has presented workshops around the children's book industry in, Greece, the US, Sweden, China and Germany. She is also a director of a children's lit fest in Bristol, an ESL editor and foreign rights agent for a Belgian publisher so her industry view and experience is global.
Alizée Musson
Guest Presenter
Alizée is a script editor, writer, and translator with 10+ years of experience in script development. She is the author of The Art of Animation. Currently based in the Netherlands, she works internationally in French and English, providing translation and script editing support for screenwriters working in film, TV, and animation.
Growing up between France and the Netherlands, Alizée moved to the UK at 18 to study film production at the Arts University Bournemouth. Following an exchange with FAMU in the Czech Republic and an MA in Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship, she started working in script development as a reader. She went on to work on various projects with independent production companies and studios such as Entertainment One, Amazon Studio, and Walt Disney. Recently, Alizée was selected to participate in the Midpoint Feature Launch and the TorinoFilmLab Extended script editing labs, where she collaborated with international filmmakers on developing their feature film projects. She's also a BAFTA Connect member since 2022.